Unmanned aerial vehicles (“UAV”), such as aerial, ground and water based automated vehicles, are continuing to increase in use. For example, UAVs are often used by hobbyists to obtain aerial images of buildings, landscapes, etc. Likewise, mobile drive units, such as those provided by Kiva Systems, Inc., are often used in materials handling facilities to autonomously transport inventory within the facility. While there are many beneficial uses of these vehicles, they also have many drawbacks. For example, due to current design limitations, unmanned aerial vehicles are typically designed for either agility or efficiency, but not both.
While implementations are described herein by way of example, those skilled in the art will recognize that the implementations are not limited to the examples or drawings described. It should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit implementations to the particular form disclosed but, on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to. Additionally, as used herein, the term “coupled” may refer to two or more components connected together, whether that connection is permanent (e.g., welded) or temporary (e.g., bolted), direct or indirect (e.g., through an intermediary), mechanical, chemical, optical, or electrical. Furthermore, as used herein, “horizontal” flight refers to flight traveling in a direction substantially parallel to the ground (e.g., sea level), and that “vertical” flight refers to flight traveling substantially radially outward from the earth's center. It should be understood by those having ordinary skill that trajectories may include components of both “horizontal” and “vertical” flight vectors.